Chapter 5229

“So that’s how it fits together…” Jared’s voice came low and steady, the words hanging in the charged air of the ruin. “The Fallen immortal Valley does hide a tunnel to level five, and the only way to pry it open is by awakening the core ward sealed here. That’s why every power risked the valley’s curse. We were never the true quarry, they were after the doorway all along…”

“Which means,” Flaxseed rasped, frowning as the truth curdled in his gut, “We were bait from the first step, weren’t we?”

“Almost certainly,” Jared replied. “Lunaria and Seraphina must have known this method for ages. They announced a bounty on us just to lure the major factions inside and use our blood to spark the ward.”

Before his words could fade, the sigils encircling the altar blazed alive.

Light flared, and overhead a vast rift in space peeled open, exhaling the unmistakable breath of level five.

“The passage, it’s opening!” Flaxseed shouted, excitement and terror tangling in his throat. Jared’s brow knit at once. He felt several brutal auras knifing toward them. Lunaria and Seraphina, every heartbeat told they were moments away.

“Move, now!” Without hesitation Jared seized Flaxseed’s wrist, sprang upward, and plunged into the swirling rift. Only inside level five could they both outrun their hunters and uncover the truth of the Flaxseed clan’s massacre.